. >> the likes of sony, toyota, canon, honda, are feeling the pain. the japanese yen is holding at a 15-year high following the victory of the prime minister over the leadership challenger. both contenders of course had stressed the need to revive japan's economy. the strong yen is not helping the cause because japan relies on its powerful exporting firms. they are hurt by the strong currency that makes their exports less competitive on the global market. let us go straight over to tokyo. senior economist at fujitsu research. let me ask you this. it is prime minister kan seemed to be doing enough to combat the high yen considering we saw fresh 15-year highs reached after this election? quite simply, what does retaining the leadership implied for the currency? >> he has been extremely reluctant in making any strong comments on the yen. also very reluctant in pushing the ministry of finance or the bank of japan into intervention. the reason is very few in asia actually want to seem intervention -- want to see intervention into the yen especially since t